This plant is the Gokshura and Ikshugandha of Sanskrit writers; the first of these names signifies “cow’s hoof” from the resemblance of the cocci when adhering together in pairs, as is frequently the case, to a cloven hoof, the second alludes to the aroma of the plant. The Hindus use the fruit and root; they regard them as having cooling, diuretic, tonic and aphrodisiac properties, and use them in gonorrhœa and dysuria. The root is one of the ten drugs which go to form the Dasamula Kvatha, a compound decoction often mentioned in Sanskrit works. The ten plants are Desmodium gangeticum, Uraria lagopodioides, Solanum Jacquini, Solanum indicum, Tribulus terrestris, Ægle Marmelos, Calosanthes indica, Gmelina arborea, Stereospermum suaveolens, and Premna spinosa. The first five of these are called Hrasva (or laghu) pancha mula, or the five minor plants, and the last five, Vrihat pancha múla, or the five major plants. According to Loureiro, T. terrestris is astringent.
It is the Khasak or Hasak of the Arabs and Persians; and is well described by Ainslie, who says:—“It is a common plant near the Dardanelles, and is called in modern Greek τριβόλια. Dioscorides calls it τρίβολος and Pliny tribulus; they both describe two kinds, ‘terrestris’ and ‘aquaticus.’ The latter is the Trapa natans, Linn., or Water Chestnut.* In the Pharmacopœia of India the use of T. terrestris as a diuretic in Southern India is noticed.” In Pudukota the flowers rubbed with silver are applied in inflammation of the cornea. The action of this drug on the mucous membrane of the urinary passages appears to resemble closely that of Buchu and Uva Ursi; it may often be advantageously combined with opium and hyoscyamus.
* Dios. iv., 16. Plin. 21, 58; 22, 12. Professor Flückiger has drawn attention to the abundance of manganese in this plant, a fact which has been demonstrated by Gorup-Besanez. Trapa bicornis of China and Trapa bispinosa of India (Singhára) resemble it in this respect; they are largely used as articles of food in the East, and considered cooling in bilious affections with diarrhœa.